Posts Tagged 'cooking'

Christmas plans & cooking

Published December 24, 2011 Christmas , cooking , family , Holy Spirit , living , spiritual Leave a Comment
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 We are coming to the close of the  Christmas  season & it seems to me that we all do Christmas in our own unique ways – which is cause to celebrate!  Thankfully, I changed a few of my normal habits so that this year has less stress than preceding years (normally, I procrastinate package wrapping because this is the one task I totally HATE, for various reasons).  Anyways, this year we had a wrapping party, so that atrocity has been overcome ,)

I’m now putting my brain into the cooking mode, since today & tomorrow will be filled w food prep.  Here are some things that we’ll be cooking (my daughter is helping me):

  • breakfast:  2 savory bread puddings (spinach / artichoke and ham, cheese & sun dried tomatoes) – I think these hold great promise ,)
  • meats:  turkey & ham
  • veggies:  sweet potato casserole ala’ Isabell & green beans
  • salads:  green salad & my mom’s infamous black cherry jello
  • chorizo stuffing (my husband’s favorite)
  • desserts:  pecan pie & peach cobbler

So what do you cook & how do you celebrate Christmas???

We are having lots of people over, but the whole point of all of this cooking, preparation, celebration, et. al, is 100% due to Jesus’ birth – indeed, the most noble of all events to celebrate.  Merry Christmas!!

my gracious family

Published June 27, 2011 cooking , family , living , spiritual 5 Comments
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  No seriously, you’ve gotta read this one :)  I recently had a cooking fiasco & I want to brag on my family.  Lately, I’ve been trying to get more fish into our diet as a means for low fat protein consumption.  The honest truth is that I can’t cook fish to save my life, but that doesn’t stop me from trying – hence the fiasco.  So here’s how it went down:  I went to the fish part of the store & was looking for the cheapest & freshest fish they had, which was flounder.  Flounder is a really weird looking fish – it’s skinny and flat with the eyes on the top of its body.  Because it’s so skinny, its hard for a fish monger to de-bone (which I discovered after their kind attempt to honor my de-boned request).  So I bring home these thin strips of fish & try to cook them – it was AWFUL!!!!  But here’s the beauty of this disaster, my family ate the fish with absolutely NO COMPLAINING!  No one said a word – we all suffered in silence :)  I will not be cooking flounder again, unless Jesus visits our home personally & has a nice chat with all of our family on this topic.

So here’s a thought for your consideration & application:  my family was EXTREMELY gracious with me, I think mostly because they love me.  Perhaps a really effective way to express love is to refrain from complaining or pointing out failures and weakspots when they are so glaringly obvious.  Being gracious is a really inexpensive way to be loving :)

God is always cooking :)

Published April 23, 2009 living , spiritual Leave a Comment
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I like to cook, mostly for the humor of the experience & sometimes for the social element.  Recently, RT Kendall came & spoke at our church.  The preceding day, he came to our house & we made chili – his special recipe & my green chili.  Now all of the chilis turned out great & taste wonderful.  The truly great thing, however, was the amount that we made so i could freeze it & use it on a busy day.  Lately, i’ve been doing alot of my cooking for the week on Saturdays – mousaka (greek lamb casserole), stuffed peppers, chicken tikka masala (indian), cinnamon rolls, lasagna, marinated flank steak, etc.  Doing this on Saturdays helps a whole bunch because then during the busy-ness of the week, i’ve already got dinner made.

Here’s the God component:  i think that sometimes we treat God like the weekend meal deal.  We go to church, get a meal & think that this “banquet” will last for the week.  In reality, God is always cooking something for you – everyday.  When i was growing up, we used to sing this song, “Come & Dine for the Master Calleth”.  God always has a rich table spread & available for us to feast on His presence & Word.  Don’t be spiritually anorexic – come & dine w God everyday.  He’s got something good cookin for you!!

recipes

Published February 7, 2009 cooking 1 Comment
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ok, some facebook friends said they were interested in a few recipes, so here’s an attempt, with the forewarning that i’m not such a whippy cook & i already know this so be nice w any comments ;) .  With that premise, pls feel free to add your own fav recipe in a comment for our enjoyment  :)

monte cristo: tweaked from rachel ray (this is fun w the kids)

ingredients:  ham, turkey, salami, swiss, porous sandwich bread, eggs, milk, butter & jam [quantities based on sandwich(es) per person]

cooking:  pre-heat oven to 350 & heat a large skillet & melt butter in it;  mix eggs & milk together in a large (wide bowl) & dip bread in to soak, both sides.  you’re making french toast.  put saturated bread into heated skillet & flip when toasted.  do this to all of your bread, then put jam on 1 side of the french toast, then load w turkey, ham, salami & swiss.  slap on the top piece of french toast & bake in the oven for about 10min to melt chese. voilah – monte cristos.  i’ve tried to make the sandwiches at the same time as making the french toast, but i never got the inside of the sandwich cooked all the way through w/out putting them in the over.  any suggestions?

posole’ (mexican stew): serves 2-4 as a full meal

ingredients:  4 pork chops (boneless is the easiest), 1 tspn canola oil a large can of hominy, regular can of tomatoes, small can of diced green chilis, 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, teaspoon each of cumin & oregano, salt & pepper to taste.  add jalepeno for some kick

cooking:  in a dutch oven or large skillet brown pork chops in canola oil & season, set aside;  brown onions & garlic in the skillet then add hominy, tomatoes, green chilis, cumin, oregano & salt & pepper (and jalepenos).  chop up pork chops & add to the skillet. simmer.  the longer it simmers, the deeper / better the flavor.  if you try to freeze this, the hominy gets mushy.

Enjoy!

a day

Published November 15, 2008 family , living Leave a Comment
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I like Saturdays because they are often good fam times.  This morning, everyone kind of slept in, praise Jesus.  We had a low key breakfast for the kids because they just wanted cereal – yea!  For me, I made chiliqueles (its like nachos w fried eggs) – absolutely one of my TOTAL favorites & it was fantastic!!  The kids chilled out in their rooms & I started a study on forgiveness – there are like 3 different words (sin, transgression, debt) that Jesus discusses the need for forgiveness.  I’m interested to see where this goes. 

I also got to work out for the 1st time in like 2 weeks, came home, watched man vs wild w the fam & I’m now planning to go make dinner for our fam & the Picones.  The dinner will be:  ribeyes, salad, grilled veggies & homemade pumpkin pie & homemade butterscotch pie – yum!!  So that’s it!  Come on over, we’ll have fun! ;)

problems w jalepenos

Published September 20, 2008 cooking 2 Comments
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I love spicey food.  I like my pho hot, I like my mexican food spicey, I like to put la-jiao on my lo mein.  I like my Ethiopian food hot – I just like hot food! 

There is, however, a draw back that keeps coming back to bite me _ almost literally.  Whenever I cut or break apart jalepenos (for whatever purpose), the spiciness gets on my fingers & then anything my fingers touch.  Don’t even think of rubbing your eyes or picking your nose.  Which brings me to the reason for this blog.  I saw a recipe in this week’s food section in the newspaper for mexican brisket.  The recipe includes chopped up jalepeno & since I made this about 30min ago, I’m having some bad issues – my lips are burning & even though I didn’t pick my nose, somehow, my nose is burning.  I already reminded myself before the chopping about the dangers of jalepeno infestation, so I can’t figure out why I’m having this problem now. 

I can’t bring myself to use rubber gloves in my kitchen – I’m not a professional chef nor is my kitchen a restaurant.  Benji is sitting here telling me to make jalepeno cake for me.  :/  Any suggestions?  I’ve even thought of trying to snort milk, but I can’t bring myself to do this yet.  Advice anyone? 

Beuler?

a few of my favorite things

Published September 5, 2008 living 2 Comments
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well, its been an interesting week.  Here are a few of my favorite things that have happened this week:

  • successfully made a coconut cream pie & a delic peach pie for Benji’s bday
  • had family over for Benji’s bday & served one of the best dinners I’ve made (nothing burned, everything tasting good, & excellent company, easy to enjoy!)
  • picked up the kid’s ski gear – yahoo!!!  rentals for the season for each of them for $50!!!
  • got Benji’s ski pass – 5 mountains for FREEEEEEEEE & he survived his 5 yr old check up at the Dr (3 shots)
  • walking home w David & Bell from school each day – I get to hear about their day, friends, etc
  • friends

Routines are good things – they can bring sanity & order from a chaotic summer.  :)

more cooking!

Published August 4, 2008 cooking Leave a Comment
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Ok, Reece said he didn’t want to go out for anything fancy for his bday, nor did he want a high fat dessert that would lie around the house to tempt him – so I felt a little constricted for his bday dinner.  Thanks to Jesus, it all came out GREAT!!!!  We had marinated flank steak, grilled veggies (very tastey), grilled artichokes, salad & grilled peaches w balsamic vinegar.  Especially for me, I have to say that I was a) relieved & b) impressed!!! 

It was a throw down, that wasn’t too expensive, was REALLY tastey & nothing was burned or under-cooked & it was all on time!  This folks, is evidence of God moving in my life w positive results.  I’d like to see Him increase His territory in my life – moving from “my” life to “this” life.

cooking again

Published August 2, 2008 family 1 Comment
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Well, I’m back in the cooking groove & so far, its all been good – even my baked chicken last night turned out to be quite tastey!  So far, I made a beef roast that was good, asparagus, mushrooms, baked chix & this morn I made a big pot of posole (mexican stew).  I’m relieved that its all been good so far – even to the point of possibly branching out & trying to make my grandmas fried pies (TOTALLY PHENOMENAL, when she made them!).  Anyways, I’m encouraged w my efforts – maybe I should go to Ethiopia more often!

Any suggestions what I should try next?  ;)

food for body (tres leches & coconut cream) & soul

Published July 10, 2008 living 7 Comments
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Ok, my good friend Jolene has her bday tomorrow & her kind husband let me know that she really likes our tres leches cake – so we made one today.  If you’ve never had a tres leches cake, it would bring me great joy to let you experience the joy w our family sometime.  This is reece’s fav cake (maybe tied w moist carrot cake), so he always gets jittery when I make it because of his inclination to consume large portions in vaccuum style.  ;)   Needless to say, I like to cook this cake bc its hard to ruin.

My next cooking endeavor will be in tv taping tomorrow w a coconut cream pie.  If you were around on the Wed nite when I finished the beatitudes series, you’ll recall the entertaining coconut cream pie fiasco – it was a step up from my attempt to “toast” whipped cream under the broiler.  Enough on that one.  (personally, i think cooking should include some comic relief – mine usually does!) 

As for the soul food – here’s my wisdom for the nite:  visit my buddy’s blog: kevlarbeard.  He has a list of suggestions that are really powerful!!!!

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